Tuning for e85

[Smokinthehippies]

On more modern vehicles (like a 2004 SS with a 6.0)
What all would be involved in tuning it to run on e85? I don't know what internal differences there are on engines that are factory rated of any or is it all tuning?

Just curious. Custom tune in my future and I'd love to be able to run e85 reliably.

 

[sweetk30]

factory also had different injectors / fuel system parts / and of course the tune.

so its not a super easy thing I don't think to do it correctly .

also I know when you call for parts for lots of engine stuff they do ask flex fuel or not .

I don't know if they did flex fuel in 6.0 or not.

 

[ratlover]

You want to run just e85 or both it and regular fuel? Im guessing latter.

 

[ChrisPerry]

E85 needs more compression or boost to be really effective. This site is a good read

www.raceone85.com

 

[82355]

There are a LOT of cars running on E85 in Nebraska. It is too bad the local boards went to ****.

Martin

 

[Smokinthehippies]

You want to run just e85 or both it and regular fuel? Im guessing latter.

Ideally both. But since I have the LQ9 I need to run 91 so I'm not sure how thatd work. I just know that e85 is used on a lot of performance vehicles out here so I was trying to figure what the difference is as far as Setup.
It was a bigger deal when it was a dollar cheaper a gallon lol now I premium is almost the same cost!

E85 needs more compression or boost to be really effective. This site is a good read

www.raceone85.com

I'll check it out thanks!

There are a LOT of cars running on E85 in Nebraska. It is too bad the local boards went to ****.

Martin

Yeah I spent some time on star city racing after you sent me the link but it definitely feels like it's lacking a bit. I'll keep lurking tho.

 

[82355]

Yeah, it got hacked, and the new update pissed everyone off.

Martin

 

[89yimmiJ]

My wife has a turbo HHR and I had it tuned by A guy here locally that is an distributor for Trifecta and he says they can tune GM's for around $200 plus the cost of the cable and he sends you the program, etc specifically for your car and set-up. He sets up the car for whatever gas you run. In my case I use 91-93 unleaded but he suggested that I start mixing to E47 which requires a retune or E16 which does not. He can program the car to learn the fuel, etc. and only be in performance mode when you want. On the HHR it increased the HP from mid 200's to probably about 315-320 but he said if I use e16 it would increase to about 360 after learning.

On her Suburban which was factory E85, I was having problems with the E85 sensor and used a "replicator" to bypass it. If I ever get a chance to tune it, I will be able to use E16 as well.

 

[Blue85]

Converting to flex fuel operation is a bigger deal than going to e85 full time. The super simple conversion is to just go with bigger injectors and run it. But then you have to find e85 all the time. Full-time e85 can be a good option if you add a supercharger or turbo because of all the added octane. But of course this requires a full tune anyway. I don't know of anybody offering flex-fuel conversions, but there are SO many factory LS flex fuel trucks from GM it makes sense to just start with one of those PCMs and fuel system.

Right now I'm totally in love with e85 because I just filled up for $0.869/gallon and my 5.3 runs good on corn.

 

[89yimmiJ]

One thing that I am considering for my Nova is a double fuel tank that has separate chambers in it so that I can run e85 when I am at full boost and 93 when I am cruising or some combination of the two. It's a pretty expensive set-up but I am sure there is a low buck solution out there like a supplemental injector.

 

[82355]

Why not just always run E85?

Martin

 

[89yimmiJ]

Why not just always run E85?

Martin

Depending on where you live, a station that sells E85 might be hundreds of miles away. I live in Texas and I think there are only 2 stations within 20-30 miles of me. I believe there are only 35 in the entire state and Texas is a big state. I wouldn't want to be dependent on having to use a certain station.

Also, in my experience, it is pretty corrosive to the fuel lines and anything rubber or plastic. I might be wrong as I have limited experience with it and most of it was bad. I plan to use it out of necessity as opposed to having to buy 5 gallon cans of racing fuel.

I'm trying to learn as much as I can as I am building a twin turbo motor that should be in the 1650-1800hp range but have limited experience in that level of horsepower in regards to reliability and feasibility for a street car.